Teen pregnancy

Cuts to research would limit evidence-based efforts to curb an intractable social problem.

Copyright 2017: Houston Chronicle

August 11, 2017

Photo: William Luther, Staff

Good business principles would argue for robust prevention. Teen pregnancy cost the state $1.1 billion, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Eighty-seven percent of the births to teens are paid for by Texas Medicaid, according to Gwen Daverth, CEO of the Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. William Luther/wluther@express-news.net)

Good business principles would argue for robust prevention. Teen...

President Donald J. Trump isn't the first to talk about overhauling government functions using ideas from the business sector; former Vice President Al Gore, similarly inspired, wrote a book titled "Businesslike Government" using "Lessons Learned from America's Best Companies."

This worthy goal is easier said than done. Although the high-end hotel business may be challenged to provide a guide for solving social problems, at least citizens have a right to expect that the Trump administration will tackle problems such as reducing teen pregnancy relying on basic common sense.

That's not happening.

The administration has recently proposed deeps cuts to the evidence-based Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program in the 2018 budget. Let's be clear: No abortion counseling is provided in the TPP budget; it's all about prevention. The program awards grants to scientists looking for ways to help teens avoid unwanted pregnancies. Not all of these grants have shown a positive effect, but draconian cuts to much-needed research in this area represent bad fiscal and social policy.

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First, the timing: Hotel developers don't stop construction half-way just because they think they've found a better site. Yet, the cuts - which came as a surprise to the grantees - will put a premature end to research projects scheduled to last five years. Studies will have to be redesigned, or if that's not possible, scrapped before valid scientific conclusions are reached. Taxpayer money will be inevitably wasted.

In addition, good businessmen make decisions based on evidence, not on wishful thinking. Public health research supports the conclusion that the decline in the teen pregnancy rate in recent years is largely attributed to contraceptive use. Yet Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and other top officials at the department seem to favor abstinence-only programs.

Virginity pledges are not going to solve the problem of too many teens giving birth, and any shift by the administration to an overreliance on abstinence-only education would have tragic consequences not only for Texas teens but for their children.

Texas already has the fifth-highest teen pregnancy rate, the fourth-highest teen birth rate and the highest repeat pregnancy rate of any state in the country, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Harris County more than 5,000 teens had babies in 2015.

Good business principles would argue for robust prevention. Teen pregnancy cost the state $1.1 billion, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Eighty-seven percent of the births to teens are paid for by Texas Medicaid, according to Gwen Daverth, CEO of the Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.

The social costs of teen pregnancy and birth are high as well. "A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child," the actress Sophia Loren once famously said.

Her observation states the problem with teen births in a nutshell. Giving birth while still a teen is limiting for both parent and child. Teen mothers are more likely to drop out of college or high school. They're likely to live in poverty, to be incarcerated and to need social services; and so are their children. The president's proposed 2018 budget is not legally binding document, only a wish list. But consider the initiative a shot across the bow toward ineffective and wasteful policy. Taxpayers should contact their representatives and let them know that they care about the future of adolescent women and support funding for effective teen pregnancy prevention efforts in Texas and beyond.